What do you get when you combine a jiu jitsu competitor, a pharmacist, and a Tik Toker whose dog has over 38 million video views? That's no joke, says Amina SubLaban, one of Plug's R&D Engineers who specializes in PEM electrolyzers.
Amina, who has worked at Plug for the past two years, focuses her efforts on current and next-generation electrolyzer stacks. He is working to improve the way our electrolyzer stacks produce hydrogen by looking at the components and their coatings and investigating novel ways to improve expansion. “I studied chemistry in college, so this is a good combination of engineering and chemistry.”
Amina is from Florida and completed her bachelor's degree in chemistry at Florida State University before moving to Boston to work at UMASS Lowell in their green energy and combustion research lab. One of the things he did there involved hands-on testing with hydrogen. From there, he found the Plug in Concord, MA. “I wanted to leave academia and go to industry. The plug seemed like the perfect job for me, and it was! “
At Plug, Amina started as a chemist analyzing samples for all our branches, but wanted to work directly in electrolyzer R&D. When an opportunity opened up, he jumped at it. The electrolyzer team is “definitely still a startup vibe where everyone is doing a lot of work and really helping each other. The culture here encourages us to ask questions. We joke around a lot and it's a fun work culture,” he notes. “The idea of bringing green hydrogen to the community as a bridge to that the ideal planet we want – the importance of hydrogen is huge. That's something I didn't really know until I started working at Plug. That hydrogen is the piece we need to get to the future we're trying to build.”
Amina is guided by her understanding that any of us can be in someone else's position at any time if the circumstances are right. That knowledge removes the burden of prejudice and instills a good measure of compassion. “It gives me more patience and tolerance when dealing with others.” Being born in Miami and growing up with a Muslim father and a Christian mother and many Jewish friends has given Amina a great appreciation for the idea that diversity is good for resilience – for people and the environment.
But back to Brazilian Jiu Jitsu – a big part of Amina's life. He joined last June after arriving at a gym near his home and now joins 7 days a week. “It's a battle, but it's empowering.” He enters the competition every three months – the next one is in mid-November.
And Ollie, Amina's dog, became a Tik Tok champion. The black lab mix went viral in 2020 when Amina made a trending video putting butter on Ollie's head. He continues to make videos of Ollie doing other trends and gets thousands of views, but nothing compares to putting butter on his head.
From work to life, it's easy to see that diversity plays an important role in Amina's life. Growing up, his Puerto Rican grandmother used to tell him “sin miedo,” which means “without fear” in English. Now working in the emerging hydrogen industry, this vision is helping Amina make an impact on the Plug team and the market.
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